


Not As It Seems XXXVI

by eliniel



Series: Not As It Seems Series [36]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Home, Reminiscing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:00:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25315705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eliniel/pseuds/eliniel
Summary: The Warrior of Light contemplates the last year.
Relationships: Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch & Warrior of Light
Series: Not As It Seems Series [36]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2175447
Comments: 10
Kudos: 37





	Not As It Seems XXXVI

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a fic contest in the Cornvocation discord :) But now that it is over I can share it with everyone! I hope you love it.
> 
> The theme was Home.

“Thank you,” I said with a curt nod of my head, dropping the gil into the shopkeep’s hand. 

“No,” she said with a sly smile. “Thank  _ you _ , Warrior of Light.” One side of my mouth tugged upwards as I huffed a laugh and rolled my eyes. 

“As if I would shop anywhere else,” I remarked. “You  _ always _ have the best produce.” 

The miqo’te hummed with a shake of her head, though her grin widened and she handed over my basket, full of the ingredients I had ordered. 

“Well, you know I appreciate your business, as always.” She took a quick look around as I slid my arm through the hole and rested the basket into my elbow. “And where is your handsome companion today? It isn’t often anymore that I don’t see you both wandering about the market, connected at the hip.” I blinked in surprise and she clicked her tongue crossing her arms over her chest. 

“I’m a shopkeep,” she reminded me, offering me a pointed look. “There isn’t much that I  _ don’t _ see.” A chuckle. “ _ Especially _ the budding romance of the  _ famed _ Warrior of Light. To be frank, honey, I’m sure everyone around here has noticed.” My cheeks flushed red with indignation.

“Wha- I-,” I sputtered as her eyes wandered again. 

“Ah! There he is!” she exclaimed, ignoring me as I struggled for the words to argue. She reached across her counter to nudge my elbow with one hand, pointing in his direction with the other.

I twisted, following her gaze to find Emet-Selch standing at the back of a short line by the Ebony Stalls’ resident culinarian, waiting to purchase the orange juice I’d asked him to grab. He sighed, his impatience clear from his profile, and put his hands on his hips. I could only imagine the number of curses running through his mind, no doubt asking himself why he agreed to do such a thing for me.

A fond smile spread across my lips and I leaned back against the counter. When I turned back to her, the shopkeep was leaning her elbows on the surface, chin in her palms as she watched me with a whimsical smile, her long tail excitedly flicking back and forth. 

“Just look at your face,” she sighed. “He must be quite something for  _ you  _ to have fallen as you have.”

“Yes,” I agreed without thinking. “He’s-”

I paused.

My lips parted as I processed her words. I quickly looked at him again with a furrowed brow. 

Fallen-? 

Had I...? When…?

I... _ knew _ that what we shared was more than just a fling but...

Realization struck me and my eyes widened in alarm, the heat in my cheeks growing across my face and down my neck as my jaw was barely hanging on its hinges. 

Was it... _ that _ obvious?

“Where did you meet him?” she inquired next, ignoring my embarrassment. I snapped my mouth shut again. I cleared my throat and reached into my basket for an apple as I contemplated the best way to explain…  _ this _ .

“That’s...a long and complicated story,” I answered, settling on a vague response, then sunk my teeth into the fruit. It’s not as if  _ everyone _ knew about the fourteen reflections of the Source, nor about Ascians…and I had to be careful how much I revealed, lest I cause a panic...or be considered insane. 

I watched from the corner of my eye as she stood straight again, placing her hands on her hips and nodded knowingly with an understanding hum.

“It usually is, isn’t it?” I huffed a laugh. 

“Yes, I guess it is.”

Especially when you’re  _ me _ .

“On one of your many adventures, then?” 

“I suppose you could say that. He sort of…” I waved one hand in the air, indicating some sort of magical spell. “Appeared. And then I was stuck with him.”

“Stuck with him?” she scoffed. A bowl on the counter rattled as she scooped a few almonds into her palm and began popping them into her mouth, one-by-one.

“Oh yes,” I said with a roll of my eyes, though my lips curled upward again as I thought back to our first meeting in the courtyard of the Crystarium. “In fact, I didn’t like him a single onze at first.” I took another bite of the apple. 

“Smug, arrogant,” I continued as I chewed. Finally, the Ascian approached the stall and exchanged a few words with the lalafell at the front. “Insufferable.” The miqo’te crunched down on a nut.

“What changed, then?”

I breathed a laugh, looking down to my feet. What  _ hadn’t _ changed?

“He...showed me a side of himself that I didn’t think possible.” 

And much, much more, I didn’t say.

The both of us were quiet for a long moment. I lifted my head again and we watched him wait for his order. 

Finally, the lalafell returned with two jugs of juice. He set them on the counter between them, and held his hand out.

“Well,” the shopkeep said, finally, as Emet-Selch handed his money over to the culinarian and plucked the corked glasses from the table. “I’m...glad you’ve found someone. He  _ must _ be quite something to be worthy of you.” I glanced over my shoulder to her with a raised brow. She shrugged one shoulder without looking at me. “As I said, there isn’t much I  _ don’t _ see. And you’ve been alone for a  _ long  _ time.” 

She glanced at me with a kind smile and I examined her face, the sincerity clear in her expression.

“I  _ know _ you don’t think you need anyone,” she continued when I didn’t respond, placing a hand gently on my shoulder. I opened my mouth to argue, but her grin widened and she waved me off with her other hand. “But take my word for it. You’re different when you’re with him.” 

I wasn’t sure what look I made, but it must have been akin to confusion. 

“More relaxed,” she explained, waggling her eyebrow suggestively. I rolled my eyes with a click of my tongue and pushed off of the counter. She laughed, squeezing my shoulder before releasing it. I turned back to face her for a moment, her expression softening. “Happy, even.” 

I paused, eyes dropping to the surface of the table as I placed a hand over my heart, my brow furrowing as I digested her words. 

“I…”

A new, warm feeling spread through my body at the thought. A feeling I likely wouldn’t have a name for if it hadn’t been spelled out in front of my face. 

I never thought I’d have time for happiness, being who I was. Always on the move, never settling for long. I had friends, sure, but with fame also came loneliness. And I had...accepted that.

Yet, here I was. I had found my kindred spirit, a soul so much like my own that it was impossible to deny. His journey may have been much longer than mine, but we were still one in the same.

And...I  _ was _ happier with him, wasn’t I?

I felt the corners of my lips tug upwards, my eyes filling with water as I breathed a laugh.

“I think I am,” I admitted to her, trying to keep my voice steady. She examined my face, her own smile brightening at what she saw. She reached across the counter and patted my cheek with a nod. 

“Good,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper, a certain understanding in her tone, almost as if she could tell what I was thinking. “Hold onto it,” she continued, her thumb brushing the skin under my eye, catching the tears before they fell. “Hold onto it for as long as you can. You deserve it.” 

I breathed a laugh and nodded. A moment later, her eyes shot over my shoulder and her demeanor changed, the soft smile turned sassy and sly as she dropped her arm.

“As requested,” the Ascian’s voice said as he stepped up to my side again. I felt a weight in the basket as he set the jugs into it, the glass clinking together. 

“Ah,” the miqo’te started. “The famed white knight has returned at last.” She offered me a quick look, distracting him long enough for me to dry my eyes and pull myself together again. 

“White knight?” he scoffed as he laid his arm across my shoulders, leaning in conspiratorially towards the woman, squishing me between him and the counter. “What, _ exactly _ , has she been saying about me to make you believe such a thing?”

“Only the most horrible of things, I assure you,” she teased. He gave a terse nod, straightening once more. 

“Good.” His attention landed on me. “Finished with your shopping, hero?” I lifted a finger to my lips as I took a final look around the market.

“I think so.” 

“Well then,” the shopkeeper said, placing her hands on her hips once more, eyes narrowing in on me. “You two best be off.”

Next to me, Emet-Selch raised a brow. I huffed a laugh and shook my head. 

“Thank you,” I told her, bowing my head slightly. She lifted one arm to wave us off, immediately turning to another patron who was approaching. 

“What was all that about?” the Ascian asked as we began walking towards the entrance to the Ebony Stalls. 

“Nothing much,” I laughed. “Thank you for getting the juice.” He hummed in response. We both fell silent as I leaned into him, marvelling at our surroundings. The sun was high in the sky, the wildflowers along the pathways vibrant and fragrant. I listened to the birds chirping, the notes of their songs carrying on the light breeze that gently blew the tips of my hair.

And I was here, under his arm,  _ exactly _ where I wanted to be.

“Could we...take the long way?” I asked, peering up at him. His brows lifted in surprise. 

“Any particular reason why?” 

“I just…” I shrugged one shoulder. “It’s such a nice day. It would be a shame to waste it inside.” 

“If that’s what you wish, Warrior of Light,” he acquiesced. “But, in that case…”

His arm slipped from around me and he inserted it into the curved handle of my basket, easily lifting it from the bend of my elbow. 

“Wha-Hey!” I tried reaching around him to snatch it back, but he held it out of my reach, the usual, playful smirk tugging at his mouth. “You don’t have to-”

“I know I don’t.” I puffed my cheeks with a pout. 

“I’m perfectly capable-”

“Yes, I am aware of that as well.” I blew a sharp breath out of my nose and hummed my displeasure as we continued walking.

And though I huffed, I couldn’t help the smile that crossed my lips at his insistence. 

Another comfortable silence stretched between us as we made our way through Gridania, taking in the sights and breathing in the wonderful scents of nature. Every so often, his free hand would brush against mine and I would feel that  _ warm _ sense of contentment spread through me again. 

When had it happened, I wondered? 

When had I become so comfortable with someone I had once considered an enemy? When had I begun to feel...safe?

I wasn’t sure I could pinpoint any exact moment. 

When we reached the entrance to Apkallu Falls, I came to a slow stop, eyes snagging on the pond, small insects landing upon its surface creating small ripples that reflected the bright sun. The sound of the rushing water over the small waterfall was soothing, drawing me into the small alcove. 

“Are you alright, hero?” he asked as he followed, a hint of amusement in his voice. 

“Just...thinking,” I admitted.

“Don’t go and give yourself a headache,” he teased and I breathed a quiet laugh and shoved him with my shoulder. He chuckled as I paused at the edge of the falls. “About anything particularly interesting?”

“ _ Us. _ ” The word slipped from my mouth before I had a chance to even think about it. Next to me, the Ascian stilled. It was not the first time I’d said something similar, and every time still seemed to take him by surprise. 

Why was that? After all this time, did he not think that I enjoyed his company? That...I enjoyed  _ him? _ I’d tried to show him many times...what was it about me that shocked him so?

...Or was it...that he was unsure of...himself?

“Us,” he repeated back to me, the word slow and careful. I nodded, my eyes still trained ahead of me on the water. 

“How far we’ve come since that night that you wandered into my room looking for nothing more than physical contact,” I explained, lifting my gaze to him. 

“And...is that...a good thing?” he asked, quietly, cautiously. I smiled softly, tilting my head back towards the pond in time to see a frog leap into the water with a  _ thunk _ .

“I think so,” I answered, clasping my hands behind my back. “I hope that you do too.”

I watched from the corner of my eye as he, too, glanced out to the pond, no noise between us except for the calming sound of the falls before us. 

He didn’t respond, though I had expected as much. He was a man of few words, especially when those words revealed his true feelings. 

But, I found myself okay with that. He showed me in other ways. 

_ Hold onto it _ , the miqo’te’s words echoed in my mind.

I would, I promised myself. 

“Well, are you ready to head home yet?” Emet-Selch asked finally, shocking me out of my thoughts. I blinked. How long had we been standing there in silence? How long had he been waiting for me?

My gaze slid from the water to him, his free hand stretched out towards me. I stared at his palm in surprise for a long moment.

_ Home _ , I thought. The word struck a chord inside of me. A chord of happiness, contentment… and for reasons I could not explain, nostalgia. 

_ My _ house, I knew he had meant. The house I had bought, had furnished but...had never  _ really _ spent time in. The house that sat empty for months on end, only used on the rarest of occasions, usually when I merely needed a place to rest my weary body between quests.

Until he showed up.

What he didn’t know was that  _ he _ had truly turned it into a  _ home _ .  _ He _ had...turned into  _ my _ home.

I felt a new smile spread across my lips at the realization as I raised my gaze to his, the gold of his eyes bright and clear and… welcoming.

We’d spent so much time there, had...made so many fond memories of each other there- within those walls. 

It was amazing, really, though also bewildering that despite the differences between us, despite the differences in our goals, that we had actually managed to find  _ common ground _ \- to carve out a small corner of happiness and comfort for ourselves.

If I had been asked a year ago if I thought what we had today was at all possible, I would have laughed. 

He raised a brow at my expression, but instead of explaining, I twisted my hand so I was able to twine my fingers between his.

“Yes,” I answered, finally. “Let’s go home.” 

He huffed a quiet laugh and tightened his hand around mine. He tugged gently, pulling me to him as he leaned down, my lips meeting his as I landed against his chest. I hummed, letting my eyelids fall shut as I reciprocated his affections. 

When he pulled back, he stared down at me for several quiet moments, his expression soft as his eyes examined my face.

“What was that for?” I asked him. 

“Do I need a reason?”

My smile brightened as I raised up onto my toes to press my mouth to his once more. 

Even though he did not say it in words, I  _ knew _ . As they always say,  _ actions speak louder than words _ . 

“I suppose not,” I breathed against his lips. With a chuckle, he pulled away again, releasing my hand. I settled into his side and his arm wrapped around my shoulders again. I wound my own around his back, sliding my hand into the back pocket of his pants and, together, we began making our way back to the Lavender Beds. 

To  _ home _ . 


End file.
